Apparatus for treatment of food products

Abstract

A unit for molding and heat treating food products, including a series of parallel, horizontal, upwardly facing generally U-shaped molds. A lid element extends under the bottom of each mold, and the entire mold assembly is fixed to support means which permit stacking of the units, the lid elements then engaging in the channel openings of an underlying unit, defining individual fluid-tight conduits which receive heat-conveying fluid for treatment, by heat exchange, of food products contained in the channels.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A unit for the molding and heat treatment of food products, said unit comprising an assembly of molds in a form of parallel horizonal channels, bottoms of said channels being directed downwards and openings of said channels being directed upwards, a lid element extending under the respective bottom being associated with each channel, said assembly of molds being fixed to support means which provide for stacking of said units, said lid elements being engaged in said openings of the channels of an underlying unit, said channels and said lid elements being made of a material that is a good conductor of heat, each channel being fixed to the associated lid element in such a way as to delimit a fluid-tight individual conduit which receives a heat-conveying fluid for the treatment, by heat exchange, of food products contained in said channels. 
     
     
       2. The unit according to claim 1, wherein each individual conduit surrounds the wall of a channel at least substantially completely. 
     
     
       3. The unit according to claim 1, wherein the individual conduits delimited by a channel and an associated lid element communicate with each other to form a single conduit within the unit. 
     
     
       4. The unit according to claim 1, wherein the individual conduits are divided by a discontinuous intermediate partition. 
     
     
       5. The unit according to claim 4, wherein said partition extends longitudinally under the associated channel and is shorter than the channel so as to leave a passage at one end of the partition for the heat-conveying fluid. 
     
     
       6. The unit according to claim 4, wherein said end passages alternate to encourage circulation of the fluid in a chicane. 
     
     
       7. The unit according to claim 1, including connectors for connection to a heat-conveying fluid supply and to means for evacuating the fluid. 
     
     
       8. The unit according to claim 1, wherein the transverse walls of said conduit each include at least one blind hole with an open side facing outwards for grasping and manipulating the unit. 
     
     
       9. A plant for molding and heat treatment of food products, comprising a plurality of stacked units according to claim 8, and equipped with a heat-conveying fluid supply and with means for evacuating the fluid, to each of which each unit is connected. 
     
     
       10. The plant according to claim 9, wherein the fluid is a hot liquid for cooking said food products. 
     
     
       11. The plant according to claim 9, wherein the fluid is a cold liquid for chilling or freezing said food products.